53 DODGE GROUND UP PROJECT

OK, GOT THE BODY ON THE 91 DAKOTA CHASSIS,  BOY IT FITS LIKE A GLOVE. RIGHT NOW IT'S JUST BLOCKED UP AND SET FOR RIDE HEIGHT, BUT I FEEL LIKE I HAVE MADE GREAT STRIDES JUST GETTING IT THIS FAR.  I AM GOING TO USE THE DAKOTA FRONT FLOOR, FRAME TO BODY MOUNTS AND FIREWALL AND USE THE 53 DODGE TRUCK REAR FLOOR AND FRAME TO BODY MOUNTS.  IT AHS THE STOCK DAKOTA RUNNING GEAR IN IT AND EVEN THE 53 RADIATOR LOOKS LIKE IT WILL FIT WELL. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.   BUD    

Nice to see progress and looks good.
  Mike  
Great Minds Discuss Ideas; Average Minds Discuss Events; Small Minds Discuss (other) People.

Ok, got lots done yesterday (doesn't look like it though). I took the cab back off the frame, set in the Dakota front floor pan and got busy. I had taken some good measurements when the Dakota floor was initially installed and also scribed around the edges of the dakota floor onto the 53 truck floor and screwed in the dakota floor to the 53 cab floor so I could take the floorpan back out and cut what was needed to cut on the 53 firewall and the floor after the truck cab was back off the frame. at that point, I made a couple of jigs for the front stantions that I used to block up ride height, I got the measurement by taking the blocks I used for ride height, put them next to the Dakota front mounts and measured the remaining distance between them for the correct floor placement at the body mounts in front. the rears I will address with you later. I cut out the firewall (scary) on the 53 an inch from the factory seam, and ended cutting the upper part right at the seam althought the pic doesn't show it. I trimmed the floor, cleaned up the rust and popped in the Dakota front floorboard. I clamped it into place, using the screw holes and scribe marks as reference, made sure the body to frame mounts rested on the jigs, welded in angle plates to the floorboard to kick panel braces, made up some 2 inch spacers for the front upper sides of the firewall to cowl areas and welded them in too. that is as far as I got. here are some pics.  

Been a while since the last post, life gets hectic, but work has progressed. the frame is shortened, the floor and firewall are welded in, the cab, front fenders and the short bed are now mounted on the Dakota frame.  It still needs a major amount of work, but very satisfying to see it like this.   Bud  

Your code had an extra for every picture. I fixed it and now your images display properly.  

thanks for fixing the pics, I don't know what happened.   Bud  

There was an extra [*img] and [*/img] on every image link. Ignore the * I just needed to put it so the text would show.